The Chief Executive Podcast · 2026-02-05 · 33 min
When people feel short on time, resources, clarity, or support, the instinct is often to pull inward, protect territory, and stop investing in teamwork. But what if scarcity could strengthen collaboration? That’s exactly what I explore in my latest podcast conversation with Dr. Kelly Goldsmith, a Professor of Marketing at Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management who studies how scarcity shapes our behavior. In this episode, we dig into questions that leaders face daily: - When teams say they are too busy or don’t have enough resources to collaborate, how does the perception of scarcity impact their work? - Why does uncertainty and scarcity sometimes demotivate people to act collectively and other times energize team members to pull closer together? - How does a scarcity mindset trigger status concerns and unnecessary competition and what can leaders do to reduce zero-sum thinking? - How should leaders give recognition to team members so the entire team is motivated? - How can people respond to scarcity by throwing their efforts in other unexpected directions? One of my biggest takeaways was that uncertainty and scarcity undermine a sense of control.
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